India: Holidayers make up for missed flights

MUMBAI: Planning to fly to Paris, Zurich or to an exotic
Asian destination like Singapore during the next few days?
Just forget it because flights to these places have been going
full despite the fact the holiday season has not fully picked up
in Mumbai.

Airline industry sources believe this rush for tickets was
taking place because many company executives and their
families who could not go on their annual Christmas and
New Year holiday in December on account of the Y2K
problem were doing so now. A Swissair official said, ``Till
now there was high season and low season travel. But, now
it seems to be all high season travel.''

``Right now from Mumbai it will be impossible to get a seat
on a flight to Zurich on the day of your choice. Some
passengers get wait listed, go to the airport and try their luck
if there were any cancellations. But, invariably they return
disappointed,'' she said. Swissair operates six flights a week
from Mumbai to Zurich.

The official said many people wanted to enjoy a holiday in
Switzerland which explains why all the Zurich-bound flights
from Mumbai are currently operating to full capacity.

Most of the demand for air tickets at present was for
West-bound destinations and an Air-India (AI)
spokeswoman said it would be difficult to get a seat to
London or New York. ``Normally, the peak season begins
after April 15, but this year it has started much earlier,'' she
said. A Singapore Airlines spokeswoman said, ``Our flights
are going full.'' KLM too has reported high loads and has in
fact advised passengers with confirmed tickets not to alter
their travel plans as it will be impossible to get a seat.

The situation is the same with Air France (AF) too which is
also experiencing a full load of passengers on its
Mumbai-Paris flights these days. ``Our computer reservation
system indicates that the flights are full till April-end,'' an
official said here on Thursday.

Travel agents said many agencies had publicised exotic
foreign holiday packages with several incentives which
proved very attractive. They said this was one of the reasons
why there was a heavy demand for airline seats. This apart,
they also stated that many businessmen could now afford to
buy air tickets for their families and go abroad on a holiday.
``Airlines were not offering any major discounts on the fares
at present,'' said a travel agent.

``We are experiencing very high demand on all the 15 flights
a week to Frankfurt which we operate from Mumbai,
Chennai and Delhi,'' said Lufthansa's Delhi-based
spokesperson. ``Only as recent as March 27 we had to
reschedule our flights out of Mumbai and we are now
offering an additional flight on Monday to facilitate our
passengers,'' she said. The airline has five weekly flights
from Mumbai to Frankfurt.

The spokesperson explained that with some airlines like
United Airlines pulling out from the India route the market
had witnessed a capacity crunch. Another factor responsible
for the high demand is because of the boom in the software
industry. A large number of professionals are moving to the
West to take up jobs in the U.S. and other countries.

Only two airlines operating from Mumbai, Delta and British
Airways (BA) have stated that their flights were not going
full. Said a BA official, ``We had full loads 10 days ago but
now the situation is easing.'' A Delta official said that up to
March-end the flights to New York from Mumbai were
going full. ``In the first week of April the situation slightly
improved,'' he added.